Front matter (continued 2)

(2) MISCELLANEOUS PLACES

In New York City there are places of a certain type which cater directly to vice in that they are frequented, for the most part, by immoral and dissolute persons who not only solicit on the premises for immoral purposes, but create conditions which stimulate the business of prostitution. The proprietors have a guilty knowledge of the fact that prostitutes and their kind use the premises as an adjunct to immoral trade. Such places include restaurants, pool rooms, delicatessen stores, candy shops, hair dressing and manicure parlors, barber shops, cigar stores, palmist and clairvoyant parlors, livery stables, and opium dens. The places in question are usually situated in the vicinity of vice resorts. To the ordinary observer their outward appearance is that of any respectable business establishment. The signs are on the windows, goods are displayed, customers may come and go, and there is a general air of activity. From January 24, 1912 to November 15, 1912, 180 reports were made in connection with conditions in 91 such miscellaneous places.

In some of these places, known as “hangouts,” respectable trade is neither sought nor encouraged. A stranger is looked upon with a certain amount of suspicion and treated as an intruder. If he asks for a meal, he is told that the hour for serving meals has passed; if he desires to purchase a package of food from the shelves, he is informed that the particular brand he seeks is missing.

The real purpose of the place is to afford a rendezvous where confidences may be exchanged and deals planned—where birds of a feather may flock together and be fed or entertained. It is indeed a varied group that sit about the tables or lounge idly at the entrance: owners of houses of prostitution, madames and inmates, street walkers, pimps, procurers, gamblers, pickpockets, thieves, and crooks of every shade and kind. Young boys of the neighborhood become fascinated with the adventurous lives of the men who frequent these places and soon join their ranks.

One of the most important of these establishments is a delicatessen store on Seventh Avenue,[79] a notorious and popular place. The little room is crowded with things to eat and drink. Small tables are placed about the vacant places and at these tables sit owners of houses, madames and inmates, pimps, runners, and lighthouses. All the forces for the conduct of the business of prostitution in parlor houses are here, scheming, quarreling, discussing profits, selling shares, securing women, and paying out money for favors received. If the walls of this little room could speak, they would reveal many secrets. The value of houses is debated, the income from the business, the expenses of conducting it, the price of shares to-day, or to-morrow, or in the future, if this or that happens. Here is the center of the trade in certain types of houses,—the stock market, where members bid and outbid each other and quarrel over advantage given or taken. The owner of this delicatessen store, a stout and rather handsome man, moves about quietly. Upstairs, his wife, hearty and ample, cares for his home and his children. Now and then the children sit at the tables with wondering eyes and listen. The eldest girl, about seventeen, dressed in white, talks earnestly with a handsome procurer or holds the hand of a madame.

In some of the places here alluded to liquor is sold without a license; in others, gambling is carried on. Poker, stuss, No. 21, pinochle, are played in the rear behind closed doors. For instance, during the month of April, 1912, a stranger entered a “coffee and cake hangout” in East 114th Street.[80] The usual crowd of pimps, crooks, and gamblers sat about the tables eating and drinking. A man rose from a table and walked to the rear to a little white door. He tapped gently; the door opened and closed behind him. As it did so, the stranger saw in an inner room men seated about a table.

Elsewhere a lucrative business in the sale of drugs is carried on. Blanche, a street walker, crazy for morphine at 2.30 A. M., on May 18, 1912, pleaded with a man in a restaurant on Seventh Avenue[81] to purchase some for her. The stranger with whom she was at the time, moved to pity at her pleading, furnished the money. A bottle of morphine tablets was hastily procured from a well-known pharmacy on Seventh Avenue. Snatching the bottle from his hand, she concealed it in her stocking.[82]

The cigar store, the pool room, the coffee and cake restaurant, are the favorite resorts of the pimps. Here they come to make deals for their women, to receive telephone messages from their girls on the street or in vice resorts, to plan “line ups”[83] when a “young chicken” is about to be broken into the business, and to buy drugs for their girls and themselves. It is common knowledge that here gangs are formed and arrangements for robberies or other criminal acts made; here the spoils are divided; guns are hidden when officers come to search, and men beaten who make a “squeal.”

The prostitute herself frequents the hairdressing and manicure parlors, popular with her for two reasons: first, because here she makes herself “beautiful” under the hands of the proprietor, and second, because through the operator she learns of resorts where she may earn “better money.” The imparting of such information is a part of the hairdresser’s trade. She is the fount of knowledge on this subject; “swell” madames patronize her place, urging her to send them attractive girls. If the right girls do not come in, she advertises in the papers, using her “parlor” as a decoy. Her husband—if she has one—may be a thrifty man who mingles with his wife’s customers, selling them attractive hats or suits, and other things, and finally acting as their bail bondsman if they are arrested and brought to court. At least one such husband has grown wealthy in the business.

Such a hairdressing and manicure parlor, for example, is conducted on Sixth Avenue.[84] The woman caters only to prostitutes; and part of her business is to find out if any of her customers are dissatisfied with their present places or if they are not attached to any resort. In either event, she offers to send them to find a place where they can earn more money. One day a woman having her hair shampooed in this parlor actually heard the proprietor send girls to different vice resorts. She advertises in the daily press for help. For instance, on Saturday, April 6, 1912, a daily paper contained the following advertisement under “Female Help Wanted”:

“Hairdresser and manicure wanted, experienced. Apply ——, —— Sixth Avenue.”[85]

Pool rooms and cigar stores offer peculiar facilities for young boys of the neighborhood to become acquainted with the life of the underworld. Even before leaving school, boys often frequent them; soon some of them join little cliques and gangs formed by the criminal element. They become pickpockets or ordinary crooks. If endowed by nature with large muscles and an instinct for fighting, they become preliminary boxers and gradually develop into the gang members or political guerillas who do such valiant service at the polls on primary or election day. From the ranks of these the pimp is developed. As neighborhood boys they have little difficulty in securing girls who, like themselves, are adventurous, or already immoral. It therefore becomes easy either to trap a girl and ruin her, or to “break in” the already immoral girl to a life of professional prostitution under protection.

It is a strange fact, but it is true, that prostitutes often select young men whom they see in front of pool rooms and cigar stores and actually invite them to become their pimps and share the proceeds of their business. A young boy about eighteen years of age was standing near the entrance of a pool room on Second Avenue one hot afternoon in August, 1912, jauntily puffing a cigarette as a stranger passed with a man who had lived in the neighborhood many years. “See that kid?” said the man. “A young prostitute on the avenue has picked him out for her pimp. They grew up together and both have gone on the bum. She was ‘lined up’ about a year ago by a gang that ‘hangs out’ in a cigar store on East 14th Street. Since then she has been a regular prostitute.”

There is another group of miscellaneous places, different from those referred to above, namely, the natural channels through which the varied life of a great city passes. These are freely used by the prostitute. Attention is called to them simply to emphasize the fact that wherever groups of people meet for innocent pleasure or for business, there the prostitute lingers to ply her trade. Such places include subway and railway stations, hotel lobbies, entrances to department stores, ferry slips, and post office buildings. Prostitutes find these crowded thoroughfares excellent centers in which to solicit or to make “dates.” Pimps and procurers also frequent such places to “pick up” adventurous girls who are alone or in pairs, out for pleasure or excitement.[86]

(3) THE STREETS

The streets of Manhattan are openly used by prostitutes for soliciting. During the period of this investigation, street walking has been most conspicuous in certain localities which may be roughly described as follows:

Broadway, from West 27th to West 68th, and the side streets from West 26th to West 64th;

Sixth Avenue, from West 16th to West 45th, and the side streets from West 25th to West 31st;

Seventh Avenue, from West 24th to West 42nd;

Columbus Avenue, from West 59th to West 66th;

Columbus and Eighth Avenues, from West 99th to West 125th;

Second Avenue, from East 8th to 9th, and between East 12th and East 14th;

Third Avenue, from East 9th to East 28th, and from East 99th to East 137th, and the side streets to Lexington Avenue;

Irving Place, from East 14th to East 15th;

Houston Street, on the lower East Side around Allen and Forsythe Streets.

Of all these thoroughfares, Broadway is most freely utilized for soliciting. During the nights of March 7, 11, 14, 19, 20, and 21, 1912, at the hours of 8.30 P. M., 9 P. M., 10 P. M., 11 P. M., 11 to 12 P. M., 11.30 P. M., 12 A. M., 12.15 A. M., 12.30 A. M., 12.45 A. M., and 1.55 A. M., eighty-four street walkers were seen accosting men at different places on Broadway from West 34th to West 65th Streets. This number does not take into account prostitutes who were merely promenading or those who were lurking in the shadows of the side streets. Reports of a similar character could be given for the months of April, May, June, July, August, September, and October, 1912, showing that solicitation on Broadway was continuous.

Sixth Avenue is another favorite resort for street walkers. On September 17, 18, 23, 25, 26, and 28, 1912, at such hours as 4 P. M., 4.30 P. M., 6.30 P. M., 7.15 P. M., and 8 to 9 P. M., fifty-five prostitutes were seen soliciting men between West 24th and West 29th Streets. In most instances the destination of these couples was hotels on two corners of West 28th Street. The same general conditions as described regarding solicitation on Broadway and Sixth Avenue exist in other sections of the city.[87]

(4) PUBLIC DANCE HALLS

No places of amusement are so filled with moral dangers to boys and girls as certain public dance halls in New York City. A conviction to this effect, long held, has been strengthened as a result of a thorough and comprehensive investigation of 85 public dances given in 47 different dance halls in Manhattan from January 24 to June 24, 1912. Ninety-six reports were made of conditions in these dance halls by three investigators, two young men and a young woman, who worked independently. In some instances they reported on the same dance without knowing of the presence of one another, thus removing all doubt regarding the facts as presented. No special dances were selected for observation, the investigators having been sent to those which were publicly advertised from time to time.

Of 75 different dances reported between January 24 and June 24, only 5 are characterized as decent; 11 were more or less objectionable, 59 wholly so. At all but 3, intoxicating liquor was sold; at 61, minors were present; at all but 2, the investigator concluded that the attendance was largely disreputable.

A woman investigator reported 31 dances, at 22 of which she was solicited by 53 men; men investigators, reporting 80 dances, were solicited 47 times by 43 different women.

The proprietors of the dance halls in question have “open dates,” on which their halls may be rented by social clubs or other organizations for the purpose of giving an “affair” or a “racket,” as a ball is sometimes called. There are hundreds of these clubs and organizations in New York City, and the chief feature of the year’s activity is the giving of a ball which all the friends of the members are expected to attend. Their membership lists are made up of cliques or gangs of young boys and men who come together because of some mutual interest, sometimes for worthy motives, but very often as a cover for disorderly and even criminal purposes. Between some of these groups there is great rivalry, at times leading to fights and disturbances.

The usual method of advertising dances is by distributing “throw aways” or small colored cards on which are printed, not only the name of the group giving the dance, but also the choruses of popular songs, parodies, or verses. These latter intimate the character of the proposed frolic. They all appeal to the sex interest, some being so suggestive that they are absolutely indecent. During the progress of a dance in St. Mark’s Place,[88] a young girl, hardly above seventeen years of age, presented a boy with a printed card advertising a ball soon to be held. When the card is folded, it forms an obscene picture and title.

During the past few years aggressive measures have been taken by different reform organizations aiming to bring about a more wholesome atmosphere in connection with public dances, especially those attended by poorer boys and girls. Proprietors have been induced to employ special officers to attend the dances and keep order, prevent “tough” and “half-time” dancing, and protect innocent girls from the advances of undesirable persons. The duties of the special officer are difficult to perform. If he interferes too much, the dancers go to some other place where they enjoy more freedom. As a result, the honest proprietor who endeavors to conduct a respectable hall loses patronage, while the disreputable owner makes all the profit. Again, the young people who attend these balls know immediately when a person different from themselves appears in the hall. At once the dance becomes modest and sedate and the visitor goes away to report “that while conditions are not what they should be, yet on the whole there is great improvement.”

A social club[89] gave a ball on the evening of March 23, 1912, at a hall[90] in East 2nd Street. The dancing was very suggestive. The special officer[91] was entertaining a police sergeant, but neither made any effort to regulate the actions of the dancers. The next afternoon another club[92] occupied the hall at the same address, with the same special officer in attendance. Suddenly, when the dancing was in full swing, the officer hurriedly rushed among the dancers and told them to “cut it out” as three detectives had just come in and he did not want to see the place closed up. A girl, apparently thirteen years of age, was dancing at the time and the officer put her off the floor, loudly declaring that the proprietor did not allow young girls to dance in the hall. Things resumed their former aspect, however, as soon as the detectives retired.

Wine, whisky, and beer, freely sold in connection with certain public dances, are responsible for much vulgarity and obscenity. Young girls have been seen to yield themselves in wild abandon to their influence, and have been carried half fainting to dark corners of the hall and there, almost helpless, have been subjected to the most indecent advances.

A political organization gave a ball at a resort[93] in Avenue D, February 16, 1912. Wine, champagne and beer were sold from a bar located on the north side of the hall or served at tables. The waiters were men, while three women acted as bartenders. By actual count, one hundred girls and boys were intoxicated. Many of the drunken girls were sitting in corners of the hall on the laps of their equally intoxicated partners, who were hugging and kissing them. The same conditions, with variations, have been observed in other dance halls where liquor was served and where the intermissions between the dances were extended so as to give all an opportunity to buy drinks.

At a ball given by another organization[94] in an East 2nd Street resort[95] on March 1, 1912, the dancing was exceedingly vulgar and suggestive. A police officer watched the obscene exhibition in company with the proprietor of the hall. After the officer left, a detective in plain clothes and another officer in uniform came in. The proprietor escorted them to the bar, where they were served. Then the host entertained his guests by pointing out the girls whom he considered to be the most adept; and the three men passed comments upon their cleverness.

A crowd of pimps, gamblers, pickpockets, and “strong arm guys” attended a dance given on March 30, 1912.[96] Here a pimp named Daniel[97] deliberately struck his girl in the face with his fist. She fell to the floor and was carried to the dressing room covered with blood. The woman investigator, who had been a nurse, took charge of the girl and summoned a physician. A doctor[98] with an office in East 4th Street, sewed four stitches in the girl’s lip and charged her five dollars, which was to include two future visits. The doctor offered the investigator fifteen dollars to help him with a case that night, and five dollars extra if she would accompany him to his room. Nor was this the only immoral solicitation that the woman investigator was subjected to in order to get the facts.

A man who was shot to death not long ago, a “gun man,” gave a dance on March 29, 1912, for his own benefit. It was a great event. “Three of the foremost gamblers were present,” a man proudly declared, and, with equal pride further said that several madames of houses of prostitution and their inmates were there also. The program of this dance is a veritable directory of “gamblers,” “gun men,” “strong arm guys,” pimps, doctors, lawyers, and politicians. Some of the names are very familiar. They made a motley crowd—all with mutual interests. Many in this remarkable gathering came together and paid large admission fees at the door because they feared the gambler who gave the dance.

The occasions above described are not utilized only by hardened profligates: young girls, some perhaps innocent, others, if not entirely innocent, at any rate not yet wholly depraved, and young men not yet altogether vicious attend the gatherings in search of amusement and change. Some of the girls who frequent these public dance halls reveal their loose morals by their manners and actions, but many are innocent working girls who seek legitimate recreation. The sinister element is the pimp who attends with the coldblooded purpose of finding new subjects of debauchery and of subsequent exploitation for gain. These agents of commercialized vice are usually well-dressed, well-mannered, and introduce themselves politely and easily to strangers. They often pretend love at first sight and exhibit marked devotion, by which girls are deceived and to which they too often yield. Clever subterfuges are sometimes employed: a pretended drummer states that he has “sample shoes” or “sample dresses” at his room: “If they fit, they are yours,” he says. When the seduction of the girls is accomplished, they are put on the street, and their ruin is complete. These “powers that prey” are a constant danger in public dance halls and find there easy quarry. The girls who refuse to be inveigled are often so ostracized that they must unbend, if they wish to participate in the fun. Dances and refreshments are withheld until the “wall-flower” comes round. Examples can be cited: a model who earns $18 a week, one-half of which she gives her father;[99] an embroidery worker,[100] making $10 a week; the head of stock in the shoe department of a Sixth Avenue store;[101] a department store girl earning $6 a week.[102] With these working women, pimps and professional prostitutes freely mingle. Forty professional prostitutes were counted at one dance given on March 10, 1912.[103]

(5) EXCURSION BOATS AND PARKS

In addition to the places already mentioned, the prostitute and her exploiter take advantage of other opportunities to ply their trade. The excursion boats between New York and Albany, Bridgeport, New Haven, Providence, Block Island, etc., are often used for a rendezvous. Occurrences of a highly suspicious character are abundant:

August 25, 1912, three couples left the boat bound for New Haven because they could not secure rooms: this, in spite of the fact that it was a day trip. On an excursion boat bound for Montauk Point on July 28, 1912, two young couples occupied staterooms 19 and 21. The girls appeared to be about eighteen years of age. Two girls, apparently seventeen years of age, rented stateroom No. 11, where they remained all day and were visited by four different men. When the boat returned to New York the girls went ashore and boarded a car on East 23rd Street. One pretty little girl on this excursion was accompanied by a woman who appeared to be her mother. The girl became friendly and offered to make a “date” with the investigator. She lives on DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn. There were two others, living in Harlem, evidently working girls, who were also willing to make “dates.”

It is indeed a matter of common knowledge that professional prostitutes make a practice of soliciting on excursion boats for immoral purposes. The women make regular trips and have a business understanding with porters and waiters, who aid in securing customers. On July 20, 1912, as the boat for New Haven was about to leave the dock, two prostitutes who solicit in a café on West 44th Street[104] came aboard. A street walker who solicits on Broadway and has a home in the Bronx took the trip to New Haven on August 25, 1912. Six prostitutes were soliciting young men on the trip to Block Island on August 11, 1912, one of them formerly an inmate in a house of prostitution in West 47th Street.[105] Her companion solicits on Broadway. These girls said they had rooms in a Block Island hotel,[106] where they invited the men to meet them.

Some of the waiters and porters on these boats act as solicitors for prostitutes. A colored porter[107] on a boat running to Block Island, August 11, 1912, said there were many couples on board having immoral relations. He offered to introduce two men to two girls. On August 8, 1912, a colored porter on a boat for Providence, Rhode Island, told a man that a “wise young girl” occupied stateroom No. 68, and that she would receive men. Robert,[108] a waiter on one of them, declared that immoral conditions were most flagrant on the Sunday trips. He described in detail the actions of couples in the staterooms when he served them drinks.

Amusement parks are similarly abused. Seven such parks in the vicinity of New York City were visited during the summer of 1912, and vicious conditions were found to exist to a greater or less extent in all of them. In the drinking places prostitutes sit on the stage in short skirts and sing and dance for the entertainment of men and boys drinking at the tables. The girls are paid very low salaries, and therefore depend upon making extra money from prostitution. The waiters aid in securing customers and receive commissions from the girls on the stage for this service. In some concert halls the girls have signs which they use to indicate the time they are free to leave the stage or the price they require. If they succeed in persuading a man to buy wine in the balcony of the hall, they receive a commission on the sale. In the winter time some of these prostitutes join burlesque shows or continue to carry on their immoral business otherwise in the city.

An investigator visited a concert hall connected with an amusement park on Long Island, July 23, 1912. There were eighteen girls seated on the stage in short skirts, the majority of them intoxicated; in their wild efforts to entertain the crowd of men and boys they exposed their persons. Twenty-five girls sing and dance in a concert hall at another popular amusement park. They are divided into two shifts, each shift working a stated number of hours during the afternoon and night. One of the singers was recognized by a man who had seen her in a house of prostitution in a city in Pennsylvania; one of her companions solicits for immoral purposes on Broadway. Many of these concert halls and similar places are connected with the hotels to which the entertainers take their customers. A very notorious hotel of this character[109] adjoins a disreputable concert hall in an amusement park on Staten Island.

The conditions in dance halls in connection with certain amusement parks are similar to those described under the heading “Public Dance Halls.” Here young and thoughtless working girls and boys often yield themselves to the degrading influence of liquor and suggestive dancing; and here also are found the prostitutes and their pimps.

In reference to public parks, it may be stated that the police force is entirely inadequate to their proper surveillance. Shocking occurrences by the score are reported in Central and other parks by different investigators under the date of July 15, August 5, July 20, July 12, etc. Not infrequently boys and girls of sixteen and seventeen are involved in these affairs,—and cases implicating still younger children are reported. The benches in certain sections of Central Park, between 10 P. M. and 1 A. M., presented a most demoralizing spectacle to the observation of every one who walked through the Park during the months of July and August.[110]

CHAPTER IV

THE EXPLOITERS

The present investigation has established the fact that the business of prostitution in New York City is exploited and, for the most part, controlled by men, though women are also involved. The names and addresses of over 500 men so engaged have been secured, together with personal descriptions and the records of many of them. Some are owners, others, procurers, the rest mainly cadets or pimps,—younger men who have a single girl, at times a “string” of girls, “working” for them on the street or in houses. The woman exploiter is at times, herself a proprietor; usually, however, she is employed by men on a salary to operate a resort.

(1) OWNERS

The men proprietors have reached their present vocation by many paths. They have been wrestlers, prize-fighters, gamblers, “politicians,” proprietors of “creep houses,”[111] fruit venders, pawnbrokers, pickpockets, crooks, peddlers, waiters, saloonkeepers, etc. Some of them pose as “business men,” carrying cards and samples, to serve as a subterfuge when they are arrested as vagrants or for living off the proceeds of prostitution. Not a few, however, without concealment, devote their entire time and energy to managing parlor houses and other resorts of prostitution. Some of the latter own a business outright; others have partners who share in the profits. One man, for instance, conducts a house with from fifteen to twenty-five inmates, and, in addition, has an interest in several other ventures of the same character. In some cases the firm is a family affair, including brothers, brothers-in-law, uncles, and cousins.

For several years thirty one-dollar houses of prostitution in the Tenderloin have been operated as a “combine,” under the direct control of fifteen or more men. The individuals in question have been in business for many years in New York City, as well as in other cities both in this country and abroad. They buy and sell shares in these houses among themselves, and it is seldom that an outsider, unless he be a relative, can “break” into the circle and share in the profits. The value of the shares depends upon the ability of the owners to maintain conditions in which the houses, being unmolested, are permitted to make large profits. The man who proves himself capable of achieving this through business sagacity and political pull is called the “king.” Upon him falls the responsibility of “seeing” the “right” individuals.

Owners follow the trend of public sentiment with a keenness and foresight truly remarkable. If a new official indicates by orders or by sentiments expressed in public that he is in favor of an “open town,” there is great rejoicing among the promoters. Agitation in the opposite direction reacts on the value of their properties: prices drop and there is a scramble to “get under cover.” If spasmodic efforts at reform are made, the more prominent owners meet in council with their lawyers and solemnly discuss what their policy should be. If their houses are closed, they still keep on paying rent, ready to open again—when a favorable word comes or when the moral outbreak subsides. For the owner has no faith in reformers. “They get tired and quit”; “all this will blow over”; “they are sick of it already”;—such are his reflections as he recalls past experiences.

The majority of men exploiters of prostitution in New York City are foreigners by birth. Some of them have been seducers of defenseless women all their lives. In one instance, at least, a whole family is engaged in the business,—the parents[112] conduct a restaurant, which is a “hangout” for pimps, procurers, crooks, and prostitutes; the daughters are prostitutes, the two sons, pimps and procurers. The father and mother are constantly on the lookout for girls whom their sons may ruin and exploit on the street or in houses. Another family[113] has already been referred to as conducting a delicatessen store in Seventh Avenue: they occupy the upper floors as their dwelling; the shop below is the favorite rendezvous of owners, madames, procurers, pimps, and prostitutes. The children of this family, one a girl just reaching womanhood, mingle freely with them. The father keeps an eye on the handsome procurers who talk with his children; though he listens daily to their schemes for securing women and girls he would “cut to pieces” any man among them who attempted to defile his own daughters.

The owners in question did not all come directly to America. Some of them drifted to other parts of Europe with young girls whom they had secured in the small towns or cities of their own countries. South Africa was a favorite destination—especially Johannesburg. Many, going thither during the Boer War, are reputed to have made large profits from their business with soldiers as customers. The authorities, however, beat them with whips and drove them from the cities. They fled to South America and then to North America. Their trail of seduction and corruption may be traced through Argentine, Brazil, Cuba, Canada, Alaska, and the large cities of our own country—San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, Butte, Denver, Omaha, St. Louis, Chicago, Pittsburg, Philadelphia; finally they realize their hopes in New York City. Here they have made a center, and from this center they go back over the old trail from time to time.

If a composite photograph could be made of typical owners of vice resorts, it would show a large, well-fed man about forty years of age and five feet, eight inches, in height. His clothes are the latest cut, loud in design, and carefully pressed. A heavy watch chain adorns his waistcoat, a large diamond sparkles in a flashy necktie, and his fat, chubby fingers are encircled with gold and diamond rings.

On April 6, 1912, a group of owners were parading up and down Seventh Avenue in front of the above-mentioned delicatessen store, discussing “business.” They were all dressed in their best and looked prosperous. One, a large man with a black mustache, wore a very fine English suit and a hat which was said to have cost eight dollars. A large diamond ring sparkled on his fat hand, a diamond horse shoe pin flashed in his tie, and a charm set with precious stones hung from a heavy gold watch chain. His brother-in-law, part owner with him of a house of prostitution in West 25th Street,[114] was also dressed in the height of fashion,—a smart suit, a black derby hat, and patent leather pumps. A third partner presented an equally dignified appearance. There were eight other owners in the group, making a very imposing appearance as they eagerly waited to talk over matters of “business” with the representative of the “boss,”—a certain official who, as the men claimed, was on this day to send word whether or not the owners could proceed with their nefarious business.

The “king”[115] of this set has the reputation of being able to “see” the right persons; when a member is “in wrong” or wants to open a house, the “king” must first be consulted. The “king” is interested in eleven houses of prostitution—of some of which he is the sole owner; each establishment contains an average of about fifteen inmates. He supports two notorious women,[116] who serve as madames, each jealous of every attention bestowed by him on the other. Many years ago he was a soldier in Russia, where he ruined a young girl whom he afterwards took to South Africa. Since that time she has earned thousands of dollars for him. He brought her to this country and traveled with her from city to city until finally he settled in New York, where he has since built up a prosperous business and gained an “influential” position.

Among the others are two brothers who combine the business of exploiting prostitution with that of selling diamonds. They are noted for their ability to outwit the law, for they openly declare that they can buy their way out of any trial. Besides their houses, they have conducted pool parlors and restaurants, and one of them has the reputation of being a “fence,” or receiver of stolen goods. The history of these two men illustrates the manner in which pimps develop into proprietors. When they first came to America about twenty years ago, they found employment on a peddler’s wagon. Soon after, one of them ruined a fifteen-year old girl who was born on Broome Street, New York City. For seven years subsequently she was his woman, earning money for him on the street and in houses. The other brother, not to be outdone, also secured a girl and became a pimp. Later they were both employed as watchboys about houses of prostitution. Being ambitious, they were soon operating regular houses on Allen Street, which at that time was part of the old Red Light District in Manhattan. Here they prospered for a number of years, though in the end they were driven from the East Side. With four women they then went to Boston, where they opened a house. Apprehended there, they “jumped their bail” and returned to their former haunts in New York. Their old enemy had evidently lost his power; for the brothers were allowed to continue in business. After the closing of the district, the scene of their business ventures was transferred to Buffalo during the Exposition of 1901. Driven thence, they went to St. Louis, where they soon owned houses, saloons, and gambling places. Ex-Governor Folk was District Attorney in St. Louis at that time and the brothers were among those who fell into his net. One brother, known as the “King of White Chapel,” that being the Red Light District, was indicted on several counts for felonies and misdemeanors. The other brother and one of his women[117] were also indicted. The enterprising pair secured bail, which they immediately forfeited, and, leaving all their wealth behind, began to roam from place to place with their women. One went to Havana, and one to Pittsburg; driven from Pittsburg, the latter soon joined his brother in Havana. From Havana the two men and their women went to South Africa and settled in Johannesburg. Here once more they made a large sum of money. The authorities seized one of the brothers and sentenced him to jail; on the expiration of his term, he was whipped and ordered out of the city. The brothers then went to Vienna, to London, and from London sailed to New York City. When they returned to the city of their early business success, they opened a house of prostitution on West 34th Street in company with a man who had just returned from South Africa. For a year they prospered. When the former District Attorney of St. Louis, who had since become Governor, learned of their presence in this country, he secured their extradition. The brothers took $25,000 to St. Louis with them and not long afterwards returned to New York entirely penniless. No wonder the elder and more crafty of the two brothers declares that the law cannot touch them! No wonder, when he is intoxicated, he strikes his chest and shouts defiance to the law! During all these vicissitudes one of his women[118] remained loyal. She is known among the owners of houses all over the country as the “best money getter” in the world. When her owner was “broke” and in sore distress, she put him on his feet again. She is his woman to-day.

The instances cited are by no means exceptional. Prostitution has become a business, the promoters of which continually scan the field for a location favorable to their operations; and the field is the entire civilized world. No legitimate enterprise is more shrewdly managed from this point of view; no variety of trade adjusts itself more promptly to conditions, transferring its activities from one place to another, as opportunities contract here and expand there. The keeper of a disorderly saloon[119] finds himself hampered in Chicago: he migrates to New York to become part owner of a Sixth Avenue resort.[120] Raided in Philadelphia, another[121] goes first to Pittsburg, thence to this city, where he purchases an interest in a West 25th Street[122] establishment. The former owner[123] of places in St. Louis and Omaha is now part owner in two houses[124] on this same street. Still another[125] was in the business successively in Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, and Los Angeles. One of the partners[126] in a resort in West 36th Street[127] has at different times had houses in Portland, Seattle, Brazil, Argentine, and London. Another[128] is simultaneously interested in houses in this city[129] and in Norfolk, Virginia. The part owner[130] of a notorious place on Sixth Avenue[131] has conducted houses of prostitution in St. Louis, Buffalo, and Johannesburg, South Africa, and has traveled all over the world in the business of exploiting prostitution.[132]

(2) PROCURERS

While keepers of houses are also procurers, there is a group of men who devote themselves singly to this work. These are the typical “white slavers,” whose trade depends entirely upon the existence of houses of prostitution. To this point we shall in a moment recur in connection with women promoters of prostitution. For the present I desire simply to emphasize the fact that the procurer has practically no chance to ply his trade unless there are houses of prostitution from which he can accept orders and to which he can dispose of “goods.” The successful procurer as well as the pimp, to be next described, boasts that, once a girl comes under his influence, she will do anything for him. No matter how ugly or repulsive outwardly, he holds his women. One of the most active procurers in the city is short, heavy, and humpbacked.[133] He has the reputation of being even more successful than a competitor[134] who is handsome, athletic, and well-dressed. The former has been apprehended in other cities on the charge of procuring, once serving two and a half years in Philadelphia under an assumed name.[135] To-day he walks the streets of New York City, a free man, unmolested.

Procurers frequent entrances to factories and department stores, or walk the streets at night striking up acquaintance with girls who are alone and looking for adventure. They select a girl waiting on a table in a restaurant, or at the cashier’s desk, and gradually make her acquaintance. They attend steamboat excursions, are found at the sea shore and amusement parks, in moving picture shows, at the public dance halls,—in fact, wherever girls congregate for business or for pleasure. They choose with almost unerring judgment the type of girl who may be pliable to their will.

At 5 P. M., on March 14, 1912, six procurers[136] stood on the corner of 27th Street and Sixth Avenue waiting for the shop and factory girls to pass by on their way going home from work. For one hour the investigator watched these men and saw them endeavoring to attract the attention of several girls. At last two of them[137] succeeded in interesting two girls, who accompanied them.

On Sunday, June 23, 1912, a group of procurers[138] went to a certain seashore resort. On the beach they were joined by a notorious procurer, then employed as a life saver.[139] He greeted his comrades with the words: “Ich hob’ frisch’ Schore” (I have fresh goods.) The group then put on their bathing suits and went into the surf. After a while they missed one of their number,[140] whom they finally found with a young girl apparently eighteen years of age: she was the “fresh goods,”—the object of the “line up,” as it afterwards developed.

(3) THE PIMP

The pimp or cadet as he is commonly called, has not yet developed into a professional procurer or keeper of a house of prostitution. While all procurers and owners of houses are in reality pimps, the converse is not always true: all pimps are not procurers, though they may hope to be some day.

The pimp enters the business when he either ruins a young girl for his future profit or becomes the lover and protector of a prostitute already in the business. As the future pimp grows up in a crowded neighborhood, he becomes a member of a gang and, as such, is admired by some reckless girl in the vicinity. Proud of her acquaintance with him, she shares the spoils resulting from his petty thieving and other escapades. Very early in their career the two begin to have immoral relations, not only with each other, but with different boys and girls of their own kind. They have never had moral standards in any proper sense of the term. The large majority of boys who become pimps and seducers of girls and the large majority of girls who become prostitutes were at the start not immoral, but unmoral. Later the boy drifts to the pool parlor or gambling room for his recreation and companionship, the girl to public dance halls and similar places of amusement. Many of these girls are already clandestine prostitutes, secretly carrying on the business of prostitution while at the same time engaged in some legitimate employment “just to keep up a respectable appearance.” Under the pimp’s influence and suggestion the girl finally “breaks” away from her secret immoral life and becomes a “regular.” The pimp shows her the way, provides places for her to solicit or “hustle” on the street or in the vice resort. He attends to the business arrangements, even to the collection of her money, though when she is “well broke,” he allows her to collect her own money and give it to him. Some pimps beat their women, on the principle that that is the only way to make them fear and love them. This may seem a paradox; but it is indeed true that many prostitutes do not believe their lovers care for them unless they “beat them up” occasionally.

The psychology of the relation of prostitute to pimp is a complicated one, difficult for the normal individual to understand. In the cases above alluded to, boy and girl have been comrades, the boy lording it over the girl until she submits to being his property. But there are prostitutes, apparently quite able to stand alone, who deliberately select a pimp; if they cease to be satisfied with him, he is discharged and a successor taken. Why should a prostitute of either kind desire a pimp? There are many reasons: the pimp is her business agent in dealing with owners, hotel keepers, etc.; he is her “go-between,” if she gets into “trouble” with the law; her companion, for she is lonely after the night’s business; but—most important of all—her lover—one person who seems to care for her as a human being, whether he does or not, and for whom she does herself really care. A spark of affection lives at the heart of this ghastly relation.

In her relation to the pimp, as well as to the house madame, the prostitute is not infrequently to all intents and purposes a white slave. For the pimp, like the madame, subjects her in many cases completely to his will and command. This does not mean that the girl is necessarily imprisoned behind locked doors and barred windows. But restraint may be thoroughly effective, even though not actually or mainly physical. Uneducated, with little or no comprehension of her legal rights or of the powers which could be invoked to aid her, often an immigrant or at least a stranger, she is soon cowed by the brute to whom she has mistakenly attached herself. Should she make an effort to break away, she is pursued and hemmed in by the concerted efforts of her cadet and his associates. As a rule, however, pimps are skilful enough to play for and to obtain the sentimental loyalty of their women; so that the prostitute herself becomes the greatest obstacle to her own freedom and rehabilitation.

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pimps in New York City. During this investigation scores of their names and personal descriptions have been accumulated, as well as those of their women. One of the best known[141] is a “life-taker” and “strong arm guy,” a dangerous fellow, twenty-two years old, who has been repeatedly arrested as a consequence of his quarrels. A “pipe fiend” and gambler, his favorite occupation is “stuss.” At elections he has his own “mob” who work at the polls for corrupt politicians. His girl is a slim, bleached blonde, “good for $100 to $150 a week on the street,” it is said.

On June 26, 1912, five pimps were playing cards in a restaurant on Seventh Avenue. The day was very hot. During the afternoon the girl[142] who is “hustling” for one of them[143] came into the restaurant wearing a heavy velvet suit. The wife of the proprietor asked: “What are you doing, wearing a suit like that in this kind of weather?” She replied that though she was bringing home eight, ten, and twelve dollars every night, she could not afford a new dress. “He needs it for gambling,” she said, pointing to her pimp. Leaving the table in anger he deliberately slapped her in the face: “Didn’t you pay $32 for that suit?” he said. “What more do you want?”

Another[144] frequents a restaurant in Second Avenue.[145] He is twenty-nine years of age, smooth shaven, with a scar on his face. Before he became a pimp he was known as a “pool room shark.” He smokes opium, snuffs cocaine, and plays stud poker. With men of his kind he is not very popular: they declare that he cannot tell the truth, that for a “shell of hop” he would kill a dozen Chinamen, and for a nickel would “frame up” his best friend. “Just an ordinary, every day, common pimp,” they say,—“can’t borrow a dollar and lives on nothing but the money his woman earns.”

Hearing of places where business is better, owners and pimps ship their “goods” about in hope of larger profits. The women remit their earnings, even if separated hundreds of miles. For example, Fanny, a woman belonging to a notorious pimp,[146] formerly solicited on Third Avenue. A year or more ago Fanny was brought into court, charged with street walking. She was sentenced to not less than three months nor more than five; after a month she was released, according to her pimp, who declared that it had cost him $500 in lawyers’ fees, etc. Thereupon he sent Fanny to Butte, Montana, whence at the end of one week she sent him $150. On June 21, 1912, the pimp complained that Fanny was then sending him only $150 per month. He was sure that she was “holding out on him,” for he knew that she made at least $100 a week.

Sophia, belonging to an equally well-known cadet,[147] whose own parents try to secure women for him, reached New York from New Orleans late in June, 1912. Her pimp and her brother met her at the station. To the former’s utter surprise she declared that she was “through” with him. A quarrel ensued; the pimp was worsted and had to abandon his claim to the girl,—one of the occasional cases, already referred to, in which the girl throws over her pimp.

(4) MADAMES

The women who run houses have as a rule risen from the ranks. They were once street walkers or parlor house inmates who possess unusual business talents. They have learned the secrets of the trade; they know the kind of inmates to get, and where to get them. They know how to deal with customers and how to make them spend money.

It takes a woman of tact and force to operate a house with from fifteen to twenty-five inmates competing with one another on a commission basis. She must keep them contented, prevent quarrels, and stifle petty jealousies. She must attach as many of them to the house as she can and keep them loyal. To do this the madame seeks to become the adviser and friend of the girls, while at the same time she drives them to the utmost to earn larger profits for the house. It is not uncommon for the girls as well as the customers to call her “mother.” Strange as it may seem, some men marry these women and find them devoted wives.

All of the thirty cheap resorts referred to in a previous chapter as belonging to men are managed by madames and housekeepers who are either their wives or their women. These women attend to all the details connected with the business. They receive customers, “show off the girls,” urge visitors to spend money, collect money, punch checks, sell liquor, keep the books, and settle up with the boss: when the houses are raided or an arrest has to be made they are the ones to go to jail. The large majority of them were born in foreign countries. They have had years of experience in operating houses in many cities of North and South America, as well as in foreign lands, especially South Africa. The loyalty displayed by them toward the men who employ them has become a tradition. Year after year, through adversity and prosperity they have followed their masters and obeyed their will. Beaten, exploited, infected, jailed, they still remain steadfast. Very rarely can one of them be persuaded to testify in a court of law against her master. A striking example is furnished by a woman[148] who came under the influence of her master[149] when she was a child of fifteen and was living with her parents in a distant country, where he had seduced her. At 9 P. M., on June 27, 1912, she came into a restaurant where her man was playing cards and upbraided him because he had purchased an automobile and placed it at the disposal of another one of his madames, neglecting her. She called him vile names and declared that she would go to the police and “squeal” on him. She told how for fifteen years she had earned money for him, and all she had to show for it was a furnished room to sleep in and a diamond ring, while he put his other woman in a “swell” apartment. “I’ve been cut to pieces for you,” she wailed, “I’ve been your slave for fifteen years and now you turn me down for that wench.” She had hardly concluded her tirade when her man rose from his chair and struck her brutally in the face with his fist. She reeled as though about to fall, then cowering before him left the place weeping. She did not “squeal” to the police.

When a man owner employs either his wife, woman or a housekeeper to operate his house, it is understood that she shall be the one to suffer punishment in case of arrest. In order to avoid punishment, men who rent houses for these purposes sub-let them to the women, who are then held as the responsible parties. When arrest or eviction comes, and the madame is sent to jail or dispossessed, the real proprietor again sub-lets his house to another woman. This fact explains why the arrests for conducting houses of prostitution do not result in diminishing to any extent the number of such resorts. On June 24, 1912, a keeper had a sub-lease drawn up for a house and inserted the name of Anna,[150] the prospective madame who was to “stand for” the arrest or eviction notice, should there be one. On March 31, 1912, “Joe”[151] said that he was paying $85 per month to his landlord and $25 per month as a bonus to the agent for his house of prostitution in West 28th Street.[152] The landlord[153] is reputed to be a wealthy business man,—“a fine fellow,” said Joe, “he is now fighting a dispossession notice for me. It is understood between us that if I can’t beat it, I can sub-let the house to another woman and charge her a bigger rent. Later, when we get another notice, I can say, ‘All right, I will dispossess this woman.’ Then I can get another. It’s no joke to run a house, believe me. The women are sent to jail. My wife got sixty days for running this house the other day. That arrest will cost me $300 for her alone. Now the women have started a new game. In case one gets three months, we have to give her $500 to keep her mouth shut.” On March 11, 1912, a partner[154] in a house of prostitution in West 24th Street[155] was describing his fortunes as a keeper of houses in New York City during the past fifteen years. Among other things he said, “My housekeeper got three months last week, and I am paying her $5 a day for every day she is in jail.”

Not a few of these madames have been arrested in different countries and cities as “gun mols” (pickpockets). That is part of their training, and the robberies they commit add many dollars to the incomes of the men who have put them in the business. A customer who enters their houses in an intoxicated condition is often robbed of everything of value. If he remonstrates he is told by the police to swear out a warrant for the woman he suspects and appear as a witness against her. It is not often a man will do this under the circumstances.

The women who operate houses on their own account belong to a rather different type: their establishments are almost always pretentious. Born, as a rule, in this country or in France, they make a show of elegance and refinement. Their houses are elaborately furnished and they and their “boarders” appear in stylish gowns, and endeavor to interest their guests by affecting a knowledge of art or music or literature. Many of them openly boast of influential and prominent friends, on whose good offices they can rely in emergencies.

In either case the housekeeper earns money not only from the customers of the house, but from the inmates. Theoretically the inmates receive one-half of all the money they take in. This is not actually the case. They are indeed fortunate if they receive any money at all after weeks of service. At most, they obtain from fifteen to twenty per cent instead of fifty per cent. Sometimes, as the first step in the process of exploitation, the madame tries to induce the girl to give up her pimp, in order that she may have her more directly under control. Having attached the girl to herself, she sells her all sorts of things: coats, suits, dresses, kimonos, chemises, underwear, hosiery, shoes, hats, gloves, feathers, plumes, combs, hairpins, toilet articles, silver meshbags, watches and rings. Hundreds of girls are thus preyed upon. Not infrequently, however, it happens that madames prefer that their girls keep their pimps, because such girls are made to work harder by the aid of the latter. As the madames and pimps divide the gains of the unfortunate creatures, their interests usually agree and they unite to exploit their common property.

The articles mentioned in the preceding paragraph are not infrequently described as stolen goods, brought to the houses by peddlers who are hired to dispose of them by crooks and shoplifters. A pimp and procurer[156] was in a resort[157] on the third floor of a house on West 58th Street[158] on June 15, 1912, trying to sell the madame several pairs of silk hose, to be sold in turn to the inmates. The stockings were frankly admitted to be stolen goods which had been turned over to him by a shoplifter[159] who is a member of a 14th Street gang and is known as a “strong arm guy.” On March 28, 1912, about 8 P. M., a young crook[160] came into a restaurant in Seventh Avenue[161] and exhibited a dress which he declared he had stolen from a prominent store.[162] The dress was marked $18.29. It did not fit any of the madames who were in the restaurant at the time. Finally he sold the dress to the madame[163] of a house in West 25th Street[164] for $10. She in turn disposed of it to one of her inmates for $35. The notorious madame[165] of a house in West 25th Street[166] had fifty chemises on March 25, 1912, which she had purchased from a peddler,[167] giving him $31 for the lot. “I am selling these to the girls for $6, $7, and $8 apiece,” she said. “If I bought them in a store they would cost $2.75 apiece; but what is the difference whether I get it or the pimp gets it?”

“I never allow a girl to get down to owing me less than $5,” said another madame. “When she is as nearly out of debt as that, I send for Sam the peddler and suggest that she buy some clothes and toilet articles. There’s Ruth,—just watch her when she comes in. I dressed her up the way you will see her; the dress cost me $20. She paid me $70 for it.”

The procuress may be dealt with in this same connection. Like the madame she has, as a rule, become too old to find prostitution itself any longer a profitable business; but native shrewdness and plausibility enable her to turn her experience to account as a pandar. I have already spoken of men procurers; but the woman procurer is even more insidious. She meets young girls in private rooms, talks to them in public places, invites them to her home without arousing suspicion. As a woman she knows many avenues of approach closed to men, and is quick to sympathize with discouraged or vain girls.

One of the best procuresses in New York City operates as a sort of employment agent, receiving a commission from immoral girls for finding profitable houses for them to work in. In this way she supplies the cheaper grade of houses, the girls paying her from $2 to $5 commission, according to the character of the house to which she sends them. Another,[168] also the madame of a house in West 38th Street,[169] goes to France to secure girls for her exclusive $5 and $10 house. On June 6, 1912, eight inmates were counted in her establishment, several of whom were young French girls who could speak little or no English. One of them told a stranger that she had not been in this country very long. On July 17, 1912, at about 7 P. M., a madame was asked[170] whether she could use three girls just brought from Vancouver, British Columbia. Betsy, the madame, said she could not, but pointed with her finger to two men owners[171] of a house in West 28th Street.[172] One of them asked the woman what the girls looked like. The procuress indicated that they were well built, young, and pretty. The man cautiously advised the woman to take the girls somewhere and “green them out.”[173]

The close and essential connection between the white slave traffic and houses of prostitution is clearly exhibited by the foregoing instances. Houses of prostitution cannot exist except through trafficking in women. Prostitutes who live scattered through the city may earn money for their pimps; but traffic in scattered prostitutes is practically impossible. As soon as houses are set up, an opportunity for trade is created. The proprietors give specific orders to the procurer—for young girls, for innocent girls, for blondes, for brunettes, for slender women, for stout women. And the procurer fills the order, resorting to every possible device in the effort to do so,—to deceit, misrepresentation, intoxication, “doping,” or what not. The white slave traffic is thus not only a hideous reality, but a reality almost wholly dependent on the existence of houses of prostitution.

CHAPTER V

PROSTITUTE AND CUSTOMER

(a) THE PROSTITUTE

The professional prostitute, in the sense in which the term is here used, is the woman or girl who sells herself for money, whether for her own pecuniary benefit, or under the direction or control of owners of vice resorts, of madames, procurers, or pimps. There has been much speculation as to the number of such women in New York City. Various estimates have been made from time to time, ranging from 25,000 to 100,000. A recent estimate places the number at 30,000.

At the beginning of this investigation, it was determined to count all women who were believed to be professional prostitutes seen in connection with resorts of all kinds in Manhattan, as well as those who used the streets for solicitation. Although these resorts were visited two or more times, only one count made on one visit is included in the total. As a result of this method, adhered to throughout the entire period of the study, i. e., from January 24th, 1912, to November 15th, 1912, the number of professional prostitutes actually counted was 14,926. Of this number, 6,759 were found on the streets in different localities in Manhattan; 8,167 prostitutes were seen and counted in parlor houses, resorts in tenement apartments, disorderly massage parlors, hotels, saloons, concert halls, and miscellaneous places.[174] Not all the vice resorts operating in Manhattan were visited; nor were all the women in these resorts seen during the visits: a certain number of repetitions would thus probably be more than offset. On the basis of the foregoing figures, it is safe to say that a total in round numbers of 15,000 does not overstate the number of professional prostitutes in Manhattan. This estimate does not include occasional or clandestine prostitutes; it includes those only who publicly offer themselves for sale in the open marts.

An effort was made to ascertain the salient facts in the personal history of 1,106 prostitutes—mostly street walkers. The approximate accuracy or truthfulness of the facts stated may be inferred from the extent to which they are confirmed by Miss Davis’s intensive study of the inmates of Bedford Reformatory.[175] Our investigator was a woman who was regarded as extraordinarily successful in winning the confidence of the girls, with whom she associated on easy and familiar terms, and by whom she was regarded as one of themselves. Of the 1,106 women thus interrogated, 762 gave America as their native land; 347 gave New York State as their birthplace; 95 were born in Pennsylvania, 63 in New Jersey, 35 in Ohio, 26 in Connecticut. Of the 344 born in foreign countries, 107 came from Russia, 72 from Germany, 35 from Austria-Hungary, and 32 from England and Scotland. Their previous occupations include domestic service, trade, industry, commerce, stenography, school teaching. Those who are arrested come mainly from the class first named, thus confirming the results obtained by Miss Mary Conyngton, an investigator for the Department of Labor at Washington, who declares that out of 3,229 women arrested for offenses against the law, 2,606, or 80.71 per cent claim to have followed the ordinary pursuits of women “within and outside the home.”[176] But, it must be added, the majority of those now engaged in prostitution seldom reach the Night Court or rescue homes. They are too well-dressed, too clever, and have long since learned the art of escaping the hand of the law. Of the women at large interrogated, 487 gave their occupational history; of these, it is not surprising to find that the percentage of domestic servants is lower than among 168 girls found in rescue homes, refuges and asylums. Of the 487, there were 117 who stated that they had been or were employed in department stores; 28 were clerks in smaller stores; 72 had worked in factories; 25 gave office work; 31 said they had been or were then stenographers; 9 telephone operators; 72 had been on the stage, and 16 of these still remained in this occupation during the theatrical season; 13 declared they had been milliners; 8 were school teachers; 4 were trained nurses; 5 had sold books on commission; 4 were artists; 2 artists’ models; and 1 was a translator. Seventy-nine of the 487 gave home pursuits as their former occupation; 27 of these said they had been domestic servants; 8 were nurse girls, 17 were dressmakers, 18 were waitresses and 9 chambermaids. Five hundred and eighteen (over half) represented themselves as without regular employment, either before or after they became prostitutes and 101 refused to say what their employment had been.

The types of employment appear to be much more varied than the types of girl. With few exceptions, the girls are characterized as weak, vain and ignorant, fond of pleasure,—not, of course, at the beginning, necessarily vicious pleasure,—easily led,—now by natural emotion, again by cunning design. The explanation of her present plight as given by the girl is almost invariably complicated. No single reason can usually be assigned. Roughly speaking, four kinds of causes are mentioned:

First.In connection with family life.

Second. In connection with married life.

Third.Personal reasons.

Fourth.Economic reasons.

The great difficulties in their family life seem to have been neglect and abuse by parents, sternness and lack of understanding, immorality of different members of the family, and poverty in the home. In connection with marriage, it was usually alleged that the husband persuaded the wife to go into the business: he was practically a pimp. Sometimes, cruelty or criminality on his part is assigned,—again, incompatibility, failure to provide, or desertion where the wife stated that she had no other recourse, never having learned to support herself. Of personal reasons, there are usually several, no one of which can be regarded as paramount. Sometimes a girl’s lover puts her into the life or deserts her after seduction, leaving her without hope for the future: “I was ruined anyway,” she would say, “and I did not care what became of me.” Again, “I loved the excitement and a good time, easy money and good clothes.” Another one remarks, “I was born bad and actually enjoy the life.” “I was tired of drudgery as a servant,” said another, “I’d rather do this than be kicked around like a dog in a kitchen by some woman who calls herself a lady.” Few girls ever admit that they have been forced into the life as “white slaves.” Some were lonely and wanted company, some were demoralized by the environment of the stage; others fell into bad company, and did not have the moral courage or the opportunity to desist. Generally speaking, of girls and women who are either ignorant, lonely, giddy, sub-normal, loveless, childless, rebellious, weak of will, discouraged of heart, unhappy or poverty-stricken, the prostitutes are those who at critical periods have given way to such an extent that they drift or plunge into immoral lives, professional or otherwise.

The same sort of explanation is given regardless of former occupation: “I was glad to get away from drudgery,” says a former servant, “father drank and I was put out to work too young”; “my folks were poor, father died from drink, mother is a heavy drinker,” says a factory girl; “I had never had anything for myself, father drank heavily,” says a saleswoman. Or, again,—a factory worker, “there is more money and pleasure in being a sport.” A shop-girl, “I wanted nice clothes and a good time”; a stenographer, “I wanted good times, money and clothes.” Seduction, too, is alleged at all levels,—base men taking advantage of natural craving for interest and affection. “I was 17 when I went with my sweetheart,” said a shop-girl; “I never intended to make it a business, I was in love with the first fellow,” declared a former stenographer. The point should also be emphasized that victims of this kind do not succumb merely to man’s impulse; often they are conquered by deliberate design. Undoubtedly responsible for part of the supply is, therefore, the thoughtless, intelligent, independent man, who seeks out a vain, unhappy, emotional girl as his victim. I refer to the employer who takes advantage of his stenographer or telephone girl, taking her to luncheons in private dining-rooms in expensive restaurants in the business districts. In department stores, certain floor-walkers, salesmen, buyers, managers, foremen, and even proprietors are constantly placing temptations before the weak and yielding girls who come under their direction.[177]

How far direct economic pressure is responsible for prostitution, it is difficult to state. A calculation of the wages previously received reveals great discrepancies. Seventeen former domestics averaged $5.55 a week, plus board and lodging; 18 factory workers received from $3 to $7.50, 20 received from $8 to $14 a week; 110 shop-girls averaged $8.24 a week. The above salaries range, however, from $3 to $15 weekly, the majority receiving $6, $7, and $8. Eleven receive $10; eleven, $12 apiece; and three, $15 each. Twenty former stenographers earned on the average $11.25 a week; of the eight women who claimed to have been school-teachers, one had earned $80 a month, and one $90. One hundred and thirty-nine girls (12 per cent) declared that they went into the life for economic reasons. Thirty-three put it this way, “I could not support myself”; fifty-five declared that they could not support themselves and their babies, sometimes their parents; forty-five said they were out of work and could not get it; nine were in ill health or had some defect keeping them out of work. Many more cited in explanation of their conduct the deprivations to which they would otherwise have to submit. Their alleged earnings as prostitutes, even if exaggerated, suggest a startling contrast: former servants claim that their receipts from soliciting vary from $26 to $68 per week; thirty former factory workers claim average weekly returns of $24; 40 more profess an average of $76 a week; a group of stenographers (17) average $55 per week.

The critical period when the first sexual offense of these women was committed appears to belong between the 14th and 21st years of life; the average of 1,106 such girls is 17 years. Twenty-five servants first erred between the 9th and 26th years; their average age was 16; 40 factory workers, first erring between 14 and 22, averaged a little over 17; 110 salesgirls give the same result. Occasionally they declare that they never knew the time when they were virtuous. “When I was a kid of 6, I used to kiss sailors and other men for candy and do other things,” said one. Naturally the age is highest in case of the former teachers, of whom one reports her first offense at 21, another at 20; one or two report their fall in their 18th year. The average time which elapsed before the girls finally drifted into professional prostitution was two years, i. e., when they were 19 years of age. The life of the professional prostitute has been estimated at five years, on the ground that she dies, withdraws, or is incapacitated after she has been in the business on the average for that length of time. But a study of more than a thousand prostitutes, all now actively engaged in the business in New York City, does not sustain this view. The majority of these girls, though entering the life before 18, are at 24 still active and aggressive in seeking trade. There is a sudden drop, however, at 25, fluctuating more or less until the age of 30 is reached. Of the 1,097 professional women whose histories were carefully compiled on this point, 15 were exceedingly active at 32, 13 at 34, 11 at 40, 3 at 44, and 3 at 50. The average age of the 1,097 who are at present inmates of vice resorts, solicitors in saloons, and on the streets, is 25 years.

It is curious to note that prostitution is definitely stratified. Women divide themselves into three distinct classes and recognize the subdivisions. To the upper class belong the inmates of $5 and $10 houses. The middle class is formed by girls in one dollar and fifty cent establishments. The street girls are, generally speaking, at the bottom. As in the upper, so in the underworld, social status changes with prosperity or adversity, though the tendency—by reason of the progressive demoralization of the life—is definitely downwards. Under the influence of age, dissipation and disease, physical deterioration rapidly sets in. Those who are at the top fall into the lower classes, except in the cases in which they become madames, managers or mistresses, or abandon the life. Those in the middle class usually end on the streets.

(b) THE CUSTOMER

The necessary counterpart to the prostitute is her customer: she is the concrete answer to his demand. There are prostitutes at different economic levels, because their customers are derived from all social classes. The careless, unkempt woman at the bottom is adjusted to the requirements of the least exacting; a somewhat better type meets the demands of men of moderate means; the showy woman at the top corresponds to the fastidiousness of the spendthrift.

The customers found in the fifty-cent vice resorts already described are usually longshoremen, truck drivers, street cleaners, coal heavers, soldiers and sailors, recently landed immigrants of low moral standards, and laborers of all kinds. Their treatment of the women is not infrequently brutal,—usually perhaps in consequence of intoxication. To one- and two-dollar houses resort men and boys who earn ten, twenty, twenty-five or more dollars per week. They are proprietors of small business enterprises, clerks, bookkeepers, bartenders, barbers, tailors, waiters, soldiers, sailors, messengers in banks, members of social and political clubs or of benefit organizations. Saturday and Sunday are the popular nights with men of this type. The owners and madames provide extra “goods” to “take care of the trade” on such occasions. This fact was brought out many times during the investigation as the workers went from one house to the other counting the inmates. A house that early in the week contained only ten or twelve inmates would on Saturday and Sunday have its numbers increased to fifteen and twenty-five. This was especially true in resorts like those on Sixth Avenue.[178]

I have in mind one prominent organization[179] whose members are regular customers in houses of this grade. Many of the rank and file are themselves owners and pimps, who joined the club in order to advertise their houses and women to their associates. Another organization[180] of similar character has a membership of about 500 young men whose ages range from twenty-one to thirty. They are fond of attending boxing contests, wrestling bouts, athletic meets and public dances. After such exhibitions or “affairs” they go in groups of five or ten to the houses, spending long hours in promiscuous orgies. Owners make a specialty of catering to clubs of this character. When they give public balls, “rackets,” “chowder parties,” or other outings, the madames, buying tickets liberally, attend with their best looking inmates or with runners to drum up trade. After the ball or outing is over, groups of men and boys follow them back to their quarters.

The proprietors of the highest priced houses are very cautious in the conduct of their business. There is no promiscuous intermingling of customers in a common receiving parlor where the men huddle on a bench awaiting their turn, or sit in chairs gaping at each other unashamed. Separate parlors are used for display; privacy is carefully guarded. In order to make doubly sure that their visits will not be known, prominent customers occasionally hire an entire establishment. An instance is cited in which a well-to-do patron remained three days in such a resort. At times, however, men are utterly reckless: they have been known to leave their business cards behind them, or their signatures in books or on presents given to the inmates or the madame. One such individual is the New York agent for a famous automobile concern; another is the manager of a company which manufactures a well-known typewriter; another travels about from city to city selling hats; while still a fourth is connected with a celebrated watch company.

A numerous but pathetic group is that made up of young clerks who, living alone in unattractive quarters, find in professional prostitutes companions in the company of whom a night’s revel offsets the dullness of their lives at other times. There are thousands of these men in New York. No home ties restrain them; no home associations fill their time or thought. Their rooms are fit only to sleep in; close friends they have few or none. You can watch them on the streets any evening. Hour after hour they gaze at the passing throng; at length they fling themselves into the current,—no longer silent and alone.

No small part of the business is the so-called “out of town” trade. It has been conservatively estimated that over 250,000 visitors enter this city every day in the year for business or for pleasure. This great host visit the theaters, parks, seashore resorts, museums; they trade in stores and shops, and some of them, before they return to their homes, become customers in vice resorts. They, too, include all social classes: soldiers and sailors, traveling men and buyers, men in attendance on business, political or fraternal gatherings and conventions, and mere pleasure seekers.

It is impossible to estimate the number of men and boys who become customers in vice resorts in Manhattan during the course of one year. On the basis of data actually on file, it may be assumed that inmates of resorts and women on the street trade with between ten and fifteen men per day. This statement is corroborated by data secured by the Vice Commission in Chicago, where the average was found to be 15 per day for 18 inmates in one house covering a period of 22 months,[181] as well as by data obtained in Syracuse, New York, where the average number of customers entertained by one inmate during a period of 6 months was 12.[182] Taking the lower figures as the basis of calculation, if the 15,000 professional prostitutes of Manhattan entertain ten guests apiece, the customers total at least 150,000 persons every day.

CHAPTER VI

THE BUSINESS OF PROSTITUTION; ITS COST

The present chapter deals mainly with the business of prostitution as conducted in parlor houses and brothels. Our investigators were fortunate in being able to mingle freely with promoters and their assistants during a period of many months, listening to their conversations, consulting with them about business deals, helping them “make up their books” after the day’s business was over, and writing letters for them; they were, in fact, treated as members of the inner circle and thus obtained first-hand information. Copies of leases for property are on our files; records of expenses and receipts in the handwriting of the promoters were secured; conversations carried on between promoters and bearing on their business dealings, have been recorded. It is commonly believed that men who live upon the proceeds of prostitution are untruthful, that no dependence can be put upon their statements. This doubtless holds as to their utterances on the witness stand or before an investigating body. But among themselves they talk about their business dealings with great freedom, and probably with more or less general accuracy. They eat and drink, buy and sell, plan and scheme like other business men; and under such circumstances the facts and conversations presented herewith were obtained. On the other hand, it must be distinctly stated that our agents were not authorized or permitted to “frame up” cases in order to secure facts. They did not operate houses of prostitution in the effort to obtain direct evidence, although opportunities of this kind frequently presented themselves. They could have leased property for immoral purposes, bought shares in houses of prostitution, or have become active agents in arranging the details essential to the safe and successful conduct of the business. Their instructions forbade anything of the kind: it was their part merely to observe without arousing suspicion on the one hand, and without actual participation on the other.

(1) LEASING PROPERTY

In order to secure houses to be used for immoral purposes, “go-betweens” called “mecklers” are employed. The “meckler” is paid a fee, never less than $30 and sometimes as much as $100. Occasionally he receives a small percentage of the receipts.

A man of this character[183] lives in East 139th Street.[184] During the period of this investigation, he selected a building on Sixth Avenue[185] as suitable for the business of prostitution. Several promoters had previously tried unsuccessfully to secure a lease on this property. Through the pawnbroker who occupies the first floor, the “meckler” in question ultimately succeeded in securing the owner’s[186] consent: the rental was $300 a month, despite the wretched conditions of the premises. He therefore rented the upper floors to three others,[187] who shared with him on a 20 per cent basis. The enterprise was not successful; not long after the “meckler” sold his share[188] for $450. The house closed in March, 1912, because of poor management. Later three other men purchased the lease and re-opened the place.

On June 26th, 1912, two owners[189] of a house of prostitution[190] in West 28th Street, sought to rent a house[191] on West 29th Street. The go-between was instructed to secure a lease on the house for one year if possible, and was told to give the agent to understand for what purpose they wanted the property. If objection was made, he was to tell the agent that in case of dispossession proceedings, the tenant could be evicted and a new lease issued under a different name. This was said to be the usual plan when the police made an arrest or issued an eviction notice. The go-between carried out his instructions literally. The house agents candidly admitted that “the owner knows that the only thing we can let the house for is for a cat-house” (meaning a house of prostitution). They stipulated that the place was not to be conducted as a gambling house or pool room; otherwise they did not care. The rental finally agreed upon was $2,000 a year. It was also agreed to insert in the lease a clause permitting the lessee to sublet the house to some other tenant in case of arrest and subsequent dispossession proceedings. A deposit of $30 was made and a receipt was given in the name of the supposed broker, or “meckler.”

In the renting of premises for purposes of prostitution various devices are employed to protect agent and owner, despite the fact that there is an overwhelming probability that in most cases both possess from the outset guilty knowledge of the facts. In some places, direct responsibility is avoided through renting empty apartments to janitors for a rental ranging from $40 to $50 a month. The janitor furnishes these apartments on the instalment plan and sublets them to prostitutes at the rate of $15 to $18 per week. Then, in addition, he often receives from $3 to $5 per week to “look away,” as he terms it. If the respectable families do not like it, they may move; and many of them do move.

The method of subletting furnished apartments by the janitor, with the consent of the agent (who probably shares in the extra profits) is employed in a tenement building on West 109th Street. In other places, the agents rent apartments by the week, demanding payment in advance. After a day or two, they may inform the occupants that a complaint has been made and that they will have to move. They do not return any of the advanced rental, but proceed to repeat the performance. This has happened in connection with furnished apartments on such streets as West 107th and West 108th.

During the month of February, 1912, a woman investigator visited 122 real estate agents for the alleged purpose of renting an apartment for immoral purposes. In each case the investigator endeavored to convey to the agent the object for which the apartment was ostensibly desired. Of the 122 agents visited, only 17 refused outright to be parties to the transaction. A few of these were indignant, others said they had to be careful, and still others said the owners of the property were exceedingly strict. Sixty-seven agents agreed to rent certain apartments for this purpose and gave the investigator the addresses of 98 separate apartments where she could conduct the proposed business. Many of these addresses proved to be places where the present investigation had already discovered disorderly conditions. The remaining 38 agents were classified as doubtful. Some of them were annoyed because the investigator openly hinted her purpose; they suggested that they did not care, but would not knowingly rent the property in their charge for such a business. Others pretended to ignore the questions of the investigator and gave her 65 separate addresses where apartments could be rented. They were willing to rent apartments of this character, but did not want to appear to do so. A young man in a real estate office on Eighth Avenue stated that they “never ask people for their marriage certificates; they require only that tenants conduct themselves quietly.” One well-known agent[192] betrayed and indeed confessed embarrassment when frankly told the purpose for which it was desired to rent a house. He remarked: “I know what you wanted the house for, but I had much rather you had not told me. If I don’t know it, I don’t know it. Now suppose you people are dispossessed and get on the witness stand and squeal, how would I look?” At a further conference, the agent refused to agree to a new lease in case of an eviction. “The only trouble,” he said to the stranger, “is that you talked too much. I knew what you wanted the house for, but I very much rather you had not told me. What I don’t know don’t bother me. I tell you what I’ll do. You send somebody else up here in a week or so and I will give you the house and don’t talk too much about it.”

In some of the buildings mentioned in the course of the negotiations here in question, practically every apartment is a vice resort. As many as 16 such resorts were found in one 7-story building. In another, every apartment except one was a vice resort, the one exception being the home of a butcher who supplied meat to the other tenants.

Whatever the lease may indicate to the contrary, property rented for immoral purposes produces extraordinarily large returns. Not infrequently a high rental is thus produced by houses and apartments that are so dilapidated that they cannot be rented at all to decent human beings. Again, there is a tacit understanding that the rental named in the lease is merely a blind. The agent receives an additional sum, which he may pocket or divide with the landlord. The lease of a house[193] of prostitution in West 26th Street places the rental at $100 a month; the keeper[194] pays $150. On October 5th, 1912, three men were negotiating with a real estate agent[195] in West 30th Street, who agreed to rent them two houses[196] in West 38th Street at extortionate rates. On the same day, an Eighth Avenue agent[197] was promised a bonus of $50 per month for a house[198] in West 28th Street. Occasionally the increased charge appears in the lease. When the madame[199] of a West 40th Street establishment undertook to rent this house, she was told by the agent[200] that the rent would be $110 per month, and that he would lease the building to her for one year with a three months’ clause. Then he added, “Now be frank; I will find out anyway. Do you intend to do anything up there?”

“Well, I might take a chance,” she said.

“If you do,” he replied, “the rent will be $125 per month.”

On March 9th, 1912, at 11.30 P. M., a man was solicited by two colored girls to enter a vice resort in West 40th Street.[201] The agents[202] of this building have offices in West 42nd Street. The building is 5 stories high and four families live on each floor, paying a monthly rental of from $20 to $25. The street walkers, however, pay as much as $40 per month for their rooms. Their neighbors[203] declare that the agent has knowledge of the character of these tenants. A public school is next door, and on the opposite side of the street is a church.

(2) TRADING IN SHARES

A group consisting of 38 men own and operate 28 one-dollar houses of prostitution in a certain section of Manhattan.[204] Among themselves they trade actively in shares. One of them[205]—already referred to as the “King” by reason of the scope of his enterprises and influence—is said to own shares in 10 houses, and his brother and nephew each have a sixth interest in another resort which he gave them as a present. His one-dollar resorts are located on the following streets:—three on Sixth Avenue, two each in West 25th Street and West 24th Street, and one each in West 28th Street,[206] West 31st Street,[207] and West 40th Street.[208] He is also the proprietor of a $5 house located in West 49th Street.[209] In some houses there are three partners who are said also to own shares in other places of the same character; in one instance, two brothers are partners in two houses—one in Sixth Avenue, and one in West 27th Street. Four partners were formerly interested in a business conducted in West 24th Street.

The group of men who operate these 28 houses of prostitution are very careful in disposing of their shares. The purchaser must either be one of their own number or some relative or friend. Sales are made for different reasons, sometimes to effect economies in management. For example, on June 7th, 1912, an owner[210] sold a half interest in a Sixth Avenue resort to a man from the West, for $2,200. Thereupon he bought a one-third interest in another house on Sixth Avenue for $900, being admitted to the firm that he might serve as lighthouse and procurer. A half-partner[211] was taken into another Sixth Avenue house[212] for $1500. The low price was subsequently accounted for by the owner as follows: “Do you suppose if the new partner had not had a good woman, I would have taken him in for that sum? I would have to take a woman in anyway and give her at least 20 per cent of the profits, without getting anything for it except her labor. To start with, I am getting $1,500 and a good woman; I save $25 per week on a procurer, and besides get a partner who is interested in the house and not a total stranger who does not care whether the house does business or not; the place is running straight now.” While these two men were discussing this economical move, the madame[213] of a house in West 40th Street[214] approached, to remark that she had a good house in the 26th police precinct, and wanted to have one of them come with her as a partner, so that she could use his influence in making some very necessary arrangements looking toward the success of the business. In reply to this offer, the person addressed replied: “They (meaning the police authorities) will not stand for a one-dollar house of prostitution on that street and besides I have enough, my hands are full.” Thereupon one of the partners in another resort on Sixth Avenue,[215] remarked that if she wanted to pay him $2,000 for his one-third interest, he would sell it.

“Why do you want to sell?” asked the woman.

“My woman is very sick,” he replied, “and she has to go to the mountains; also her sister is very sick and I am ‘broke.’”

“How heavy is business?” she asked.

He replied that the house was “working” between $1,000 and $1,200 per week. She regarded $2,000 as too much for a one-third interest, as the hot months were coming on and business would probably be very dull; however, she would give $1,500.

“No,” he answered, “you cannot buy my share for $1,999.”

Buyers are of course wary. They must be convinced that they are getting what they pay for; occasionally, therefore, tentative arrangements are made. A madame is installed until actual experience proves that the property is worth the price asked.

The following transactions were actually witnessed by our investigators: On March 3rd, 1912, sale of three one-third interests in a Sixth Avenue resort for $650 apiece; March 11th, 1912, sale of a half interest in another Sixth Avenue resort for $2,200; March 19th, a sale of a one-third interest in a West 40th Street resort for $1,500,—a poor investment, for the house was shortly closed; in July, 1912, a one-third interest in another resort in West 40th Street was purchased for $3,000 by an owner, who transferred his women thither from a place in 28th Street. Occasionally pressure is brought to force a part owner out. On one such transaction, a profit of $500 was made; in another a share was bought for $500,—far below its market value.[216]